By Jim Coggins

IF 90 percent of the world's population profess belief in some sort of religious faith, and those religions all get together to promote positive change, will world leaders listen?

That is the question posed by the 2010 World Religions Summit for Interfaith Leaders in the G8 Nations, which was held June 21 - 23 in Winnipeg.

At that meeting, 80 senior leaders of eight world religions (Aboriginal, Bahá'í, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Shinto) from more than 20 countries met and issued a joint declaration on the world's ills and their solution. The carefully drafted 2,000- word statement is entitled 'A Time for Inspired Leadership and Action.'

United action

The religious leaders called for united action to pursue three goals: to end poverty, care for the earth and invest in peace. It is the most detailed statement, signed by the broadest range of religious leaders, to emerge from these annual summits.

Since 1975, eight (originally six) of the world's most economically powerful nations have been meeting annually as the G8. In the 1990s, an additional gathering of more of the world's leading nations began meeting as the G20. The 2010 gathering of the G20 represents two- thirds of the world's population and 90 percent of the world's economic activity (Gross Domestic Product).

It is Canada's turn to host the gatherings in 2010, with the G8 meeting taking place June 25 - 26 in Huntsville, Ontario; the G20 meets June 25 - 16 in Toronto.

Since 2005, the world's religious leaders have been getting together for a shadow summit to respond to the agendas of the world's political leaders.

One of the questions arising out of this year's religious summit is the extent to which the leaders gathered in Winnipeg can be said to speak for their communities. Religions are much more decentralized than political structures.

Dan Dyck, chair of the religious summit's communications team, said the conference organizers had tried to find "the best people we could to represent the various faiths"; but, he noted, "even within the Christian tradition, it is virtually impossible for anyone to speak for the whole faith."

The summit had three main goals, said Peter Noteboom, secretary of the summit's statement committee: "To speak together for influence [on governments]; to mobilize religious communities for justice; [and] to build a strong interfaith community."

Political influence

So, do politicians pay any attention to the views of religious communities?

They should, said David Kilgour, who has had vast experience with the Canadian government, religious communities and international affairs.

"Since 70 percent of Canadians and 90 percent of the world's population belong to religious communities, political leaders should pay attention. The leaders of China may not care about the environment and may persecute religious faiths, but most other political leaders in the world have at least a nominal faith."

Still, it has not been easy to get the religious message through. For the past year and a half, leaders of the religious summit have been attempting to get the attention of the Canadian organizers of the G8 and G20 summits. For the most part, Noteboom said, those organizers have listened politely -- but have been noncommittal. The leaders of the religious summit had made a formal request to meet with the G8 or G20 leaders.

Sara MacIntyre, press secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told CC.com that the Prime Minister is aware of the religious summit and that political leaders consider the input from "all kinds of organizations." She noted that scheduling issues made it difficult to connect with a religious summit meeting in a different province, far away from the G8 and G20 summits.

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In the end, Stephen Fletcher, Minister of State for Democratic Reform, attended the last day of the religious summit to formally receive the summit's declaration. He promised to deliver it immediately to Prime Minister Harper. What attention it might receive from G8 and G20 leaders is hard to guess, Noteboom said.

"Perhaps our key influence is that the Millennium Development Goals are still on the radar and have not been downplayed by the political leaders," James Christie told a reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press before the summit. Christie is dean of theology at the University of Winnipeg and has attended the religious summits since 2007. He added, "We keep coming back to the same agenda year after year."

Another reason the religious summits are held, Dyck said, is to get the attention of the general population as well as political leaders. It is also why the deliberations of the summit were streamed on the internet and preserved for ongoing study.

Summit organizers have been working for a year and a half to get the attention of the media, but with only limited success, other than with the local Winnipeg media. "It is hard for a religious voice to be heard among all the other voices," Dyck said.

This was disappointing, given the stature of the religious leaders present, said Noteboom. He said the summit is the culmination of "a two-year process of engagement." Religious leaders met with their local MPs across Canada; there was an online petition in support of the draft declaration; and denominations were encouraged to write their own commentaries on the declaration.

Key issues

The people at the religious summit are "passionate" about issues of poverty, climate change and peace, Dyck said, but he admitted those issues are "not on the radar screen for many people, especially in developed countries." If asked, they may agree with helping people in poor countries, but they may not remember that issue in the context of an election.

Karen Hamilton, chair of the 2010 religious summit and general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches, observed that foreign affairs were not discussed by any of the parties in the last Canadian election.

There was some progress in achieving the third of the summit's goals, Noteboom suggested. Personal relationships between leaders of various religious communities have been forged. Whether this will result in some permanent structure, such as a Canadian interfaith council, is too early to tell. However, the Canadian delegates have agreed to seek an annual meeting with the Canadian prime minister.

There is an idea in society that "religions are a source of conflict," Dyck said, but the summit is evidence that religious communities can work together and that they care about social change, poverty and climate change.

The declaration admitted that "there are those who use religion to justify violent acts against others" -- but also pointed out that all of the religions present at the summit have some form of 'golden rule' - "that we should treat others as we would have them treat us."

The declaration offered some detailed suggestions, such as recommending that wealthy nations should "invest 0.7 percent of Gross National Income in development assistance"; that actions be taken to keep global temperatures from rising more than two degrees above pre- industrial levels; and that more money be spent on aid and less on the military.

However, it was also balanced, in that it recognized the progress that has been made. It also recognized that religious communities have also failed in some of these areas.

"The whole point," Hamilton told CC.com, "was to realistically and fairly analyze the situation."

Spiritual and moral crisis

Still, the declaration focused more on general principles than policy specifics. It stated: "The roots of this crisis are spiritual and moral."

The religious leaders have no illusion that this single proclamation will quickly resolve the world's problems. The declaration states: "In the spirit of continuity and persistence, we carry forward important work begun in annual gatherings of religious leaders during earlier G8 summits."

Hamilton stressed that this was not just a matter of religious leaders coming together and then "flying away home." She said efforts will be made to keep leaders and religious constituencies engaged in the process. "It's not over. The journey must continue, for the sake of the vulnerable in the world."

She added: "The great gift that faith communities bring to the process" is a long-term perspective. "Faith communities go back millennia, and know what long-term commitment is."

June 23/2010